Well, I thought I'd give the XT1 a good workout with a subject I'm familiar with...skiing. Today was a fundraiser event where the kids dressed up and did an easy GS and super-G course. I'm very familiar with this type of shooting and have used a D800, 5DIII and GH3 over the last few years. In order, the 5DIII was the best as far as keepers went followed by the D800 and then the GH3. The GH3 did an adequate job, but wasn't as solid as the other 2 understandably.

I set the XT1 up in CH drive with CF. I started on Manual shutter and aperture with auto ISO, but with the bright snow causing underexposure, I really missed being able to use EC to brighten the shots so I switched to ISO 800 and Aperture priority and EC of +2/3.

The camera was just solid as far as focusing goes. If those were from a D800, I wouldn't have been disappointed in the keeper rate, generally about 80%+ under very dynamic panning conditions. The EVF was very responsive while shooting and allowed me to pan and keep the subject near the center almost as well as with a DSLR, particularly once you got used to the cameras characteristics. The XT1 was definitely a step above the GH3 as far as keeper rate, even if the single shot focus is slightly slower.

Below is a link to a sequence at full resolution SOOC with the 55-200 wide open (f4.8) at 200mm. Even with the 5DIII, it's difficult to keep the subject centered, but I was able to do pretty well. The camera ignored foreground obstructions well and stayed locked on the skier. There are a few OOF images, but pretty amazing for a mirrorless. The 55-200 performed very well also, quite sharp even wide open.

All in all, for my non-pro use, the XT1 worked more than sufficient for this very fast sport, and I'm confident it will work for field sports as well. Looking forward to the upcoming 2.8 telephoto.